Missing Link (4)
The Cathedral.
Shirone walking down the corridor of Delta Headquarters saw a man and her face went pale.
"Eeek!"
Satan—Havitz—sat with his back against the wall.
He'd given up on the 9:00 slot's murder game.
'It doesn't matter anymore.'
That was the emptiness Shirone stepping in front of the Wizard during the 8:00 slot left him with: a deflating, vacant feeling.
Like a parent suddenly turning up at a fairy-tale playground and dousing everything with cold water.
'Because the Wizard's parent is Shirone.'
Havitz tried to read the Wizard's heart on God's frequency, but he couldn't reach it.
'He's not an easy opponent, that kid is.' So whether the one the Wizard loved was Shirone or himself remained uncertain.
"Heh heh heh."
What nonsense.
'How could I not know? Of course he loves Shirone. You can tell by what he does. I'm being used.'
But then again—
'I don't actually know, do I?'
He'd never looked directly into the Wizard's heart.
'Maybe he loves me. Maybe he's been deliberately giving Shirone everything because he's conscious of me.'
He knew that wasn't true.
But if he didn't let himself think that, he felt he'd kill the Wizard on the spot...
'Why won't he like me?' Havitz finally admitted what he wanted from the Wizard.
"Hey."
At a voice in the corridor, Havitz turned and saw a familiar face.
"Valkan."
His appearance was worn, but his eyes were still alive.
Havitz looked straight ahead again.
"What's wrong?"
"Your face says it all. Got dumped?"
"…Probably."
Valkan flopped down beside Havitz.
"I don't think I've got long. I don't even have the strength to walk. Tomorrow I'll be saying goodbye to you too."
"I see. Farewell."
Havitz said it casually.
Not trying to be cold—just the kind of farewell you give a friend you meet and part with every day.
"Heh, right. So, how is it? I hear you have someone you like."
"…It's not going well."
Valkan was usually taciturn, so Havitz knew how it gnawed at him.
"Why? Got dumped?"
"She seems interested in me one moment, then suddenly turns cold."
Valkan regarded Havitz quietly.
"Well. You're an entertaining guy. There may be people who hate you, but no one thinks you're boring. If someone finds you boring…"
Blood trickled from Valkan's mouth.
"Then they're truly dull. It means they're not like you."
Havitz blinked.
"You said it yourself: if you define nothing, in the end you'll get what you want. Let's run free and play. You decided to live as you pleased."
That was chaos.
"Right."
Havitz stood.
"I'll kill them all. Not one an hour—I'll kill everyone I can see."
Because he'd been so focused on the Wizard, Shirone had slipped through that gap.
Valkan smiled.
"You're ready to take on Yahweh."
"Ugh—"
"Do your best. We'll move to kill you too. It'll be quite the struggle."
"Haha! Is that so?"
Havitz leveled his longsword at Valkan's throat.
They stared at each other in silence, both wearing amused smiles.
"Farewell, Valkan."
I'll kill everyone I can see.
Havitz's blade moved with speed and a liquid grace. Valkan's head flew off.
As the severed head rolled across the floor, Havitz calculated the odds of his gamble.
"Heh. This is how it should be."
He would no longer hesitate; he would become a true fiend and sweep the Cathedral.
"Havitz."
A hoarse sound came from Valkan's throat.
"Noeulja—"
Leaving that voice behind, Havitz strode down the corridor.
He didn't ask.
He didn't ask what Valkan meant by comforting him, knowing he would die. Was it friendship from his closest comrade, or another layer of calculation?
Havitz didn't ask.
It was the only pleasure he and Gustav's Fourth Company had shared.
"I'll kill them all."
Ten minutes after he'd left, lithe footsteps approached Valkan like a cat.
Natasha saw the body slumped against the wall and the head a short distance away. Kneeling, she cradled Valkan's head in her arms, his mouth split into a wide grin.
"…How cruel."
When she lifted her head—
"Havitz."
Her lidless eyes held an abyss deeper than any other.
The Cathedral was a slaughterhouse.
"There are already more than twenty fatalities. Havitz—suspected to be the work of Satan."
After beheading Valkan, Havitz slaughtered people without restraint.
Guards were mobilized, royal guards from various nations set an ironclad perimeter—
"Huh?"
No one remembered Havitz.
"Why are we all so busy? Who are we even gathered to stop?"
They didn't know.
They didn't know that as Havitz cut down comrades one by one, he was closing in on them.
"This is strange. What on earth—" A guard pierced through the heart coughed up blood and managed to say.
"What's happening?" With deaths rising at one per minute, the heads of the Cathedral's five departments held an emergency meeting.
"Havitz has gone berserk."
"Where is Yahweh? Haven't they located Havitz's position yet?"
Elikia had already been activated from the Ivory Tower, so Ultima would still take time to charge.
Dorothy from the Military Department said, "We're aware of Havitz now, but we don't know when another Vanishing will trigger."
"Why would he use his ability so openly?" Mito Shirano of the International Tribunal asked.
"It might be to mock us, but I think it's more about stoking fear. Dying without knowing why is an unpleasant thing."
"Now is not the time to treat this like someone else's problem. If we don't come up with a plan, the vote will be lost."
The chair favored Gis and was trying to push the vote through by any means.
Constantine of the Religious Department spoke for the first time.
"How long will you keep relying on Yahweh?"
"Your Holiness."
"The root cause of this crisis is Yahweh. Claiming to save humanity while provoking Satan—and offering no solution."
He rose.
"I, the Rami Church, will no longer stand by."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Come in."
At the Pope's words, holy knights of the Rami Church's Demon Suppression Division rushed back inside.
'Now they come and go like it's their own house.' Legally questionable, perhaps, but with Havitz rampaging, no one objected.
"Yahweh is impersonating God and deceiving the people. But God does not persuade. God is omniscient and omnipotent; from now on I will demonstrate God's work."
A dazzling light radiated from Constantine; Shirano narrowed one eye.
'That light is clearly holy. Ordinary demonkin wouldn't stand a chance. But…'
She didn't underestimate Yahweh's power.
'Whatever it is, all it managed to do was foil Havitz's Vanishing once every hour.' What was the Pope thinking?
Then—
"It's a disaster!"
A pale-faced aide with some authority burst in. The chair scowled.
"What's the commotion? Do you know where this is—"
"Ou-outside—"
"Outside? The protestors?"
"It's not that simple."
The aide hesitated, then said the word.
"A riot."
It was past nine in the evening, but the number of protesters in front of Delta Headquarters swelled.
Opposition and supporters shouted, a gap between them that seemed impossible to bridge.
"Impeach Gis! Reveal the truth!"
"Install King Jaive as the Cathedral's representative! Make Jaive the world's leading nation!"
At that moment, a new current cut through both factions.
"God of Creya, look upon us!"
The Demon Suppression Division returning from investigating the Pyramid chanted as they marched back.
Their faces were reverent, but their eyes were hollow.
'Kill Maya.'
With that single mission, the procession pressed through the crowd.
"This is madness. Even if they're the Rami Church, driving the protesters away like this—"
The words died.
"God save us."
Those near the Demon Suppression Division suddenly went blank and all turned the same way.
"Save us."
The contagion spread so fast that in an instant every protester lost their mind.
United under the Law, only one will filled their hearts.
'Kill Maya.'
It was God's will.
With thirty minutes until the finale performance, thousands surged toward Delta.
"Damn it! What's wrong with those people? They're like they're hypnotized!"
The main gate commander ordered, "Stop them! Keep everyone at least a hundred meters back! Shoot to kill!"
Facing a tide that moved like a single organism, the shame of killing civilians vanished.
"Charge!"
Troops clashed with the crowd.
"—God—"
Those who'd lost their minds turned into a human wave and pressed back toward Delta.
The commander realized the gravity of the situation.
"Report to headquarters."
"Yes!"
It might not fix anything, but it was all he could do.
"Ugh!"
He ordered the troops to fall back at the pace of the advancing mass.
'We can't fight. The moment they reach us…'
It felt like death.
"God commands it."
A leader among the Demon Suppression Division raised a holy blade and cried, "Advance!"
"Wooooooo!" With a giant roar the people surged and the commander squeezed his eyes shut, spear leveled.
"Damn it!"
At that moment, dark-skinned warriors streamed past the guards from the direction of Delta Headquarters.
From the South—the tribal confederation.
"Everyone, guard your minds! Follow Yahweh's will!"
When they collided with the Demon Suppression Division, a battle that could be called fighting finally broke out.
The commander's eyes widened.
'Huh. How?'
Could even the most devout among his men resist such a sudden change?
"Stand down."
Entara, the southern chieftain, brought forward his guards and approached.
"Your Highness."
Entara waved his hand.
"I'm not that sort of person. I don't want this. Send your men back to the barracks. We'll handle it. Leave it to us."
"I can't! If this gate falls, it's the same as my death."
"You won't die." He understood instinctively what that meant.
"Listen. They came because something here is needed. If you waste all your strength here, you might lose it at the decisive moment."
"Lose it? Who would steal such a thing?"
"God."
The commander's expression went blank.
"An indifferent god and a god with a heart. Two beliefs following one or the other. Understand? From now on, what happens here isn't just a battle."
Entara said,
"It's a holy war."